When American theatre director and producer Stephen Helper moved to Australia some 30 years ago, having married an Australian, the first thing he did was to start finding out about Australian musicals. “I came across Lola Montez way back then and it’s always been on my to-do list,” he says.

With music by Peter Stannard, lyrics by Peter Benjamin and book by Alan Burke, who all met at Sydney University, Lola Montez was a huge hit when it premiered in Australia in 1958. It had sold out seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and its songs topped the hit parade, while the cast album was the first stereophonic recording made in Australia.

Lola Montez in Sydney c 1855. Photograph supplied

The musical tells the outrageous, but true story of femme fatale Lola Montez during her visit to the goldfields of Ballarat in 1854. Born Eliza Gilbert in Ireland, she reinvented herself as a Spanish dancer and became famous for her notorious Spider Dance. During a colourful life, she had affairs with Franz Liszt and Alexandre Dumas, and was the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

The musical looks at the two days she spent in...